What are we doing in Sea Turtles March to April?

We’ve spent a month exploring this topic already and the children have really enjoyed making different faces and talking about expressions. They have also loved taking on some roles of nurturing, especially role playing bathing feeding, putting to bed, etc.

Also March to April involves Mothers day and Easter, two celebrations that involve families, caring about others and sharing of emotions and care.

The activities this month will be based around the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) areas of learning:

KUW- Learning to anticipate or expect the reactions of others.  PSED- feeling good and sharing our emotions with each other. MD- Counting, comparing, etc through all activities. CLL using words and language to express feelings as well as gesture and sign language. PD Lots of dancing and activities to make us feel good and develop physical skills.  CD- exploring images of emotions and making collages and art work based around feelings and emotions.

Some of the activities we will be doing this month will involve:

·      The children will be involved in making beautiful treats for Mother’s Day and Easter, including talking about the special people in their lives.

·      Manjit will help the children make some magazine cut out faces collages and talking about the expressions seen.

·      The children will be involved in making Easter eggs pictures using shiny paper and magazine cut outs.

·      Ella will be helping the children to make some shredded wheat egg nests.

·      Sarah G will be making some face collages using different eyes, mouths, hair, etc.

·      Sarah Louise will be making some Easter Bunny’s with the children and also painting boiled eggs.

·      Sarah G will be organising some Easter Egg hunts with the children to search and find eggs and then take photos of the children’s surprised faces to display. 

Some ideas to support your children at home:

·         Take some time to role play caring with your child. Do some baby bathing, dressing up toys. Especially the older Sea Turtles love to pretend to be caring for others the way they have been cared for. It helps consolidate the role of caring and considering others.

·         Make some emotion faces for your child and name the faces you are doing.

·         Spend some time making a card for Mum and some treats for Easter. Talk about how being kind and doing nice things for others makes them feel.

What are we doing in Dolphins this month?

From March to April we will be continuing and developing our  enhanced focus on animals

The children became very interested in animals during Chinese New Year when we discussed all sorts of animals that represent the years of the Chinese calendar.  We explored lots about animals last month and the children continue to be fascinated with them. So, this month we are going to look a bit closer to home and start to think about pets and how to care for them.

The activities this month will be based around the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) areas of learning:

KUW-Learning about the types of pets people have around the world and the differences in countries. PSED- caring for others (animals) considering their basic needs. PSRN- Looking at sizes and shapes of animals. Comparing the differences. CLL researching and reading about pets, learning new words. PD Using our bodies to care for animals. Learning appropriate ways to pick animals up.  CD Designing animal homes to meet their needs.

Some of the activities we will be doing this month to support this will be:

·         Jenny will be researching with the preschool children the basic needs of pets and how we care for them.

·         Laura W will be writing a book with the children on pets they know and love and what they love about them.

·         Christine H will be asking families to bring in photos of their pets from home to share on our family pet board.

·         Laura Z will be discussing and doing some activities around the differences in pets and wild animals.

·         Laura J will be making some masks with the children of pets.

·         Rachel G will be setting up some dramatic play pet corners in the outside area.

·         Christina will set up an animal sketching station where the children can copy animal images and make pencil drawings of them.

What you could do to support your children at home:

·         Bring in a photo of your family pet with a little bit of information to share with the nursery.

·         Go to the library and get a book out on pet care and talk with your child about caring for pets and the different types of pets there are.

·         Do some deeper exploration about breeds and what different breeds look like.

February to March Reflection

Sea Turtles

Sea Turtles have been really enjoying the exploration of emotions, caring, sharing and being kind to one another.

They have had about five puppet shows for the children to re-enact the incidents that have happened in Sea Turtles around sharing and being kind. The puppets play the children and the teachers step in and sort out the situations and role model gentle touching and being kind. The toddlers think it is hilarious watching events that they are familiar with being play acted out. The younger children watch the older children laugh and smile along enjoying their cheer. They clearly take it all in too, because a few days after a show we did another and got the name wrong for one of the characters and were corrected by one of the children!

The various dens that we have had had been really fun too. The children are loving hiding in them and hiding toys in them! If something is missing it can sure enough be found under a cushion in the den. We have introduced a lot of different scarves, fabrics and cushions into the dens and also in the sensory zone. The children love to feel the softness, textures and snuggle in. Peek-a-boo, hide and seek and throwing scarves, dress ups and hats over each other is a regular game right now.

We’ve also been working on making the sensory zone a more intimate space as well. We have been lowering the ceiling with fabric, mobiles and making it feel really special. As well as being a little quiet zone for babies, it has also been great for calming our speed demons too.

There have been lots of different sensory activities too this month and also last. Gelli (like Jelly but not food), water play, flour play, slime, gloop, clay, paint for just swirling have been enjoyed and are so relaxing and interesting for them.

Dolphins

Dolphins have loved exploring animals this month and we are in no way finished!

We set the home corner up as a vets and the children loved playing in there and taking on the roles of vet, nursery, receptionist and owner. Some of the operations were pretty serious!

The definite favourite was watching parents try to guess the unusual animals and then discussing it during the day together whose parent they thought was the best.  Just taking part with their parents was the biggest joy for them.

The children’s turn with the most unusual animal competition was really great fun too. It was so magic to see the children sharing what they had researched and making statements like “Yeah, that’s a really good one!” They loved trying to remember all the names and doing the voting and have constantly gone back to the animals with their friends to discuss them.

The preschool children have been putting together a book of what they have learned about their chosen animal to research further. Forest School has a new group enjoying exploring the outdoors and taking trips to the park to observe nature. And then there has been all the different things that we do in a month to ensure that all the children are able to take part in a range of activities that interest them.

The Friday children have also loved demolishing all the old shrubs  by the fence and preparing an area that we are going to be able to make a children’s flower garden with. Watch this space!

What are we doing in Dolphins this month?

From February to March we will be having an enhanced focus on animals

The children have become very interested in animals since Chinese New Year when we discussed all sorts of animals that represent the years of the Chinese calendar. Children were proud of the mostly pigs and dogs that we have in Dolphins and the medley of different animals represent the teacher. We are  going to go a bit more in depth into animal this month and learn about some different  and unusual animals and well as a bit more about some familiar ones.

The activities this month will be based around the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) areas of learning:

KUW-Learning new animals and more about ones we know PSED- Learning about how to care for animals and why looking after animals is important.  MD- Looking at sizes and shapes of animals. Comparing the differences. CLL Learning a range of new and unusual words, especially the names of animals that are not in the our usual vocabulary. PD Gross motor skills in role playing animals and moving in different ways.  CD- using a range of media to create artistic interpretations of animals.

Some of the activities we will be doing this month to support this will be:

·         Jenny will be having a focus on unusual animals for her preschool group learning new and unusual names and looking at animals they have never seen before.

·         Laura W will be setting up the home corner into a vets for the children to role play in. She will also be researching animals and facts on the ipad.

·         Laura Z will be setting up collage with a range of animal shapes for children to put together as they choose and come up with new animals.

·         Christine H will be setting out for children a range of animal pictures for children to cut out and make collages with.

·         Laura J will be setting up the junk modelling for children to make animal homes, zoos, castles, etc.

·         Laura Z will be doing an activity with the children on matching animal footprints to animal pictures with discussions about the types of feet they have and why.

·         Christina will be showing the children the process of making cookies and the children will get to choose animals to use for their shape.

What you could do to support your children at home:

·         Take your child on an animal spotting walk to look for dogs, cats, horses, cows, sheep, foxes, etc.

·         Look for footprints in snow, mud, etc and think together about what animal could have made them.

·         See if you can find out about an animal that is very unusual and bring a picture in to the nursery.

·         Go to the library and get some books out on animals to look through together.

·         Take a trip to the zoo.

What are we doing in Sea Turtles this month?

With many of the toddlers becoming aware of their feelings and how the interactions of each other affect one another both positively and negatively, we are planning a month really looking at positive and negative feelings and how our faces express that. The younger Sea Turtles will experience lots of ‘gentle touching’ smiles and cheer from the teachers and the older children too.

The activities this month will be based around the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) areas of learning:

KUW- Learning to anticipate or expect the reactions of others.  PSED- feeling good and sharing our emotions with each other. MD- Counting, comparing, etc through all activities. CLL using words and language to express feelings as well as gesture and sign language. PD Lots of dancing and activities to make us feel good and develop physical skills.  CD- exploring images of emotions and making collages and art work based around feelings and emotions.

Some of the activities we will be doing this month will involve:

• Ella will be setting the children up with a range of facial features for the children to collage with and think about facial features.
• Manjit will be making emotion faces and using them as flash cards for the children to copy and imitate the emotions.
• Manjit will be setting up baby (doll) bathing for the children to role play caring for babies.
• Sara will playing ball games with the children. Calling their names and rolling the ball to them when they smile.
• Sarah G will be helping them to play musical statues and pulling the face of an emotion when the music stops.
• Sarah G will support the children working together to explore and appreciate each other’s differences. E.g. soft hair, cheeks, etc.
• Chloe will be supporting the children with pass the parcel games to encourage sharing, patience. She will also be teaching nice cuddling..
• Sarah-Louise will be supporting the children in making art comforters, toys, blankets, etc.
• Ella will be taking photos of items that are special to the children, like their blankets, toys, etc to display at eye level for them and support a sense of belonging.

Some ideas to support your children at home:

·         Pull some emotions faces with your children and label the face you are pulling by calling out ‘happy!’, ‘grumpy!’.

·         Role model gentle touching, stroking, tickling, cuddling, kissing and interactions that make you feel good.

·         Sing ‘If you’re happy and you know it….’ And come up with a range of emotions.

Reflection

Dolphins from January to February

The topic for January in Dolphins was books. The children loved reading, thinking about and making books. They learned about different types of books, how books are made, authors and illustrators, story books and information books.

The pre-schoolers group cut out pictures of There Was An Old Lady  and then sequenced them into order. They then stuck them together to make a book. They also chose a book they’d like to make at home. Some children brought into nursery their favourite books from home to share with their friends.

Laura Z made books with nearly all of the children. The children cut out pictures from magazines they liked and then told Laura the story for her to write the words in the book.

Carole kept a really special book of nice things the children had done. She wrote quotes and nice events. These are some of the nice things children have done for one another.

I  OD had just woken up from a sleep. OC asked him if he wanted to sit with him and do some drawing.

I  F said his new baby brother was in his bouncing chair crying, so he rocked him and sang to him to make him feel better.

I  HW found JS’s shoes for him from the box and asked him to check if they fit and if  he had got the right ones for him.

I  SB took two new children from Sea Turtles to the bathroom to show them how to wash their own hands in Dolphins.

I  CH brought a toy over and offered it to a child settling in and feeling sad.

Sea Turtles

The topic in Sea Turtles for January was transport vehicles.  How the children in Sea Turtles are loving them. So, they have researched them, looked at new books about them, done loads of transport artwork and a beautiful display of buses.

They’ve made some great circuits in the outdoor play area for the children to zoom about and if they don’t have a ride on toy, they have been able to pretend.

What are we doing in Sea Turtles this month?

For January to February we will be having an enhanced focus on vehicles and transport. Many of our children are really obsessed with the vehicles we have for them to play with and also all the books to do with them too. They love to explore, talk and read about vehicles so we will be having a big focus on them.

The activities this month will be based around the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) areas of learning:

KUW- exploring the different types of vehicles there are and talking about what they do. Exploring speed.  PSED-  Working in groups with vehicles, sharing, turn taking. MD- size, multiples, shapes, CLL learning new nouns, making noises to model the vehicle noises, talking about what they do. PD large motor skills role playing driving vehicles. Fine motor skills manipulating small vehicles to do what they want them to do.  CD- exploring with vehicles through arts and crafts, making vehicle representations, tyre painting.

Some of the activities we will be doing this month will involve:

• Manjit will supporting the children to in making some train track paintings and car track paintings using card and corrugated paper.
• Sara will be making circuits outside for the children to race around pretending to be vehicles or using the toy vehicles.
• Ella will be supporting the children in making car shaped biscuits and icing them.
• Sarah G will be helping the children to make some salt dough vehicle shapes to decorate.
• Sarah G will be supporting the children in making a big red bus using red paint and black tissue paper an vehicle collages.
• Sarah Louise will be supporting the children to make hot air balloons, paper boats and aeroplanes.

Some ideas to support your children at home:

·         Find a busy but safe patch to watch traffic from. Names the vehicles, colours, comment on sizes and speed.

·         Sing some vehicle songs with your child…’The Wheels on the Bus’, ‘Down by the Station’, ‘Twinkle, Twinkle, chocolate bar…’

·         Get some books on vehicles. Trucks often draw children in especially and they love quite complicated ones at a young age. And you will learn something too. It is amazing that a truck is not just a truck.Notice and point things out to your child. They probably noticed them already as you drive down the road  but giving them language to go with their d